FAKE NEWS/LGBTQ/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House is hitting back at The New Yorker magazine after an explosive profile of Vice President Mike Pence, contesting an anecdote about President Donald Trump joking that Pence wanted to ‘hang’ homosexuals as well as other details reported in the story.
Reporter Jane Mayer wrote that the president joked during a meeting about gay rights that a visitor shouldn’t bother asking Pence’s opinion because, Trump reportedly said, ‘He wants to hang them all!’ Mayer also reported that Trump mocked Pence behind his back for his religious beliefs and asked people who met with him if Pence made them pray.
‘From start to finish the article relied on fiction rather than facts,’ White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement to POLITICO. ‘The president has the highest level of respect for the Vice President, and for his deeply held faith. The suggestion that he would make such outrageous remarks is offensive and untrue. The anecdote was meant to divide, not unite and is completely false.’
The New Yorker said it stands by its reporting.
‘The Vice-President’s press office declined to participate in this story for months, after multiple requests for interviews, comment, and fact-checking,’ a New Yorker spokesperson said in an emailed statement to POLITICO.”
-Matthew Nussbaum, “White House denies Trump joked about Pence being anti-gay,” Politico, Oct. 17, 2017 04:39pm